Falcons vs. Giants recap: A lopsided win in Michael Penix’s debut

The Atlanta Falcons have found their footing a bit in recent weeks, though the record did not really reflect that. Aside from embarrassing, lopsided games against the Broncos and Chargers, the Falcons have four games in their last six allowing 21 points or less, including a pair of dominant efforts against lackluster offenses in the Raiders and Giants. With Bijan Robinson and Tyler Allgeier running well and special teams contributing, this team just needed its passing attack to get going after weeks of moribund production.

To that end, they put Michael Penix in the starting lineup, and the benefits showed up in the team’s 34-7 domination of the New York Giants. Penix was far from dominant himself—he did not have a touchdown pass on the day and did miss a couple of throws—but he avoided turnovers, moved well in the pocket, and overcome multiple drops and a Kyle Pitts-bobbled interception to keep the Falcons moving and enable several scoring drives. Paired with a huge day from the Falcons defense, it was enough to win, but more than that, it was enough to run away with this game.

That effort started with a defense that has genuinely improved since the bye, minus a few embarrassing lapses in coverage against the Vikings that made it clear they still have work to do against stellar offenses. Faced with a mistake-prone Giants offense, however, they grabbed two pick-sixes for the first time since 1983, came up with multiple sacks and a forced fumble once again, and held the Giants to just seven points on the day. That stellar day meant the offense could’ve stumbled a bit and Atlanta still would have won.

But the offense did not stumble. Pitts’ miscue and those drops hurt, but Penix showed why the Falcons fell in love with him in the first place, displaying an ability to run play action effectively, good movement in the pocket to avoid sacks, and the kind of cannon arm that made downfield shots and tight window throws possible all day. Take away those and Penix likely has a more statistically impressive day, but the night and day difference between his arm, confidence, and movement versus the last few weeks of Kirk Cousins made a genuine difference for this offense.

If Penix looked good in his opening effort, Bijan Robinson still carried the offense to victory. Scoring twice, regularly extending runs with his vision and balance, and putting up over 100 yards from scrimmage yet again, Bijan fueled the scoring for this team and put them in a position for three Riley Patterson field goals, though Patterson missed one of those three tries.

The end result of a day where all three phases had very limited hiccups was one of the most straightforward wins of the season, and the kind of effort this Falcons team should be able to handle against bad football teams. Their final two opponents of the year are more daunting, with Washington and Carolina playing good football down the stretch, but the recent improvement on defense, the strength of the ground game, and the passing game’s encouraging performance with Penix at the helm gives them a fighting chance in those contests. With the playoff path very open to them after Tampa Bay’s loss last night, all the Falcons can do is keep battling and winning, and all we can do is hope and watch. The effort Sunday at least made our job seem more likely to be enjoyable in the final weeks of the 2024 season.

On to the full recap.

The Good

• Michael Penix is a rookie, but he didn’t look like one. In his debut as a starting quarterback, Penix had a couple of off-target throws, but everything else was as advertised, from the live arm to the mobility in the pocket to the decision-making. Penix was victimized by a Kyle Pitts bobble for an interception and a couple of early drops, but otherwise he was delivering darts and making smart decisions with the ball, keeping the offense moving and preventing the kind of back-breaking mistakes that had plagued Kirk Cousins for weeks. The Giants are a weak opponent, but Penix passed his first NFL test with flying colors, and he certainly looks like the most capable quarterback on this roster by a significant margin. For a first effort that’s more than enough, but the way he played in this one makes me intrigued to see more.
• Bijan Robinson, of course. As slippery as a can of greased eels and made of titanium, Robinson takes every potential negative run play as a personal challenge and turns it into a positive. He routinely took lost-looking plays and managed five-plus yards, punching in a touchdown on one of the most impressive runs of the year, where he used his vision and balance to get away from defenders and find the hole for a score. In the third quarter, Bijan fueled an impressive run once again, taking a handoff inside the 10 and trotting into the end zone for his second touchdown of the day. He’s in elite company, as only Saquon Barkley and Derrick Henry have more yards from scrimmage than Robinson in 2024.
• After Darnell Mooney was shut out last week inexplicably, he delivered in this one. Drawing a downfield pass interference and putting up 82 yards (a team high) on five grabs (tied for the team lead), Mooney was smooth in his routes and slippery on the sidelines and downfield. With Penix willing to let it rip, that’s a damn good thing.
• Drake London looked really good, too, erasing an early drop with a number of bulldozing after-the-catch runs that set him up with five grabs for 59 yards. London is simply bigger and tougher than many of the defensive backs he’ll be facing, so it’s nice to see him continue to embrace that, and his unnecessary roughness penalty after tackling the Giants defender on Penix’s interception is easy to forgive because of the fire he showed.
• Jessie Bates picking off Drew Lock felt like one of the safest bets of the afternoon, and sure enough, he got his interception. The problem for Lock was that it was on a short pass that Bates read all the way, allowing him to get a running start at it, pluck it out of the air, and return it all the way for a pick-six. Bates almost had a second interception earlier when a ball went off his hands in the end zone, but that’s what the star safety does when quarterbacks aren’t very careful with the football.
• Incredibly, Atlanta got another pick six to kick off the third quarter. On that play, Zach Harrison bullied his way into the backfield and stuck his hand up, deflecting it into the air and into the waiting hands of Matthew Judon, who reeled it in and took it the house for another score to put the Falcons up 24-7. Judon also added a sack on easily his most dominant day of the season for these Falcons, and hopefully he can keep that rolling over the final two weeks.
• Kaden Elliss is a relentless pass rusher, and it paid off in major fashion in the second quarter. He kept looping around his blocker until he got to Lock on first down late in the second quarter, taking him down and knocking the ball loose, where it was recovered by Arnold Ebiketie. That gave the Falcons, up 17-7 at the time, the ball back on the Giants 30 yard line. Few players have come on as strong as Elliss has in the second half of the season.
• Arnold Ebiketie has quietly been excellent since the bye, fueling this team’s improved pass rush with his own pressure. In this one, he got a sack and fell on that Elliss fumble, delivering pressure on multiple plays in the middle-to-late game to help keep Drew Lock off balance. There may never be double digit sacks in the offing for Ebiketie, but he’s proven to be one of the team’s more talented options and is delivering down the stretch again.
• Zach Harrison had two huge plays in this one. His tipped pass was a pick six for Matthew Judon, and then in the fourth quarter he got so close to the Giants punter that he actually disrupted his process and forced a wobbly one that gave the Falcons excellent field position. A relentless and powerful player, Harrison hasn’t gotten as much run as I had hoped in 2024, but when he has he routinely delivers.
• The coverage was underrated on Sunday. Mike Hughes, A.J. Terrell, and Dee Alford all had excellent reps where they either got a hand on the ball to disrupt a pass or just smothered a receiver, preventing a big play. Working against an extremely talented Malik Nabers and with a big-armed quarterback in Drew Lock, mistakes can happen, but they were few and far between aside from that one scoring drive for New York.
• Riley Patterson’s first miss of the day made us say “here we go” with considerable justification, but he then hit a 52 yarder and a short field goal to help fuel the team’s big scoring afternoon. With Younghoe Koo hurt, Patterson gets an opportunity to audition for a job somewhere in 2025, and if he’s impressive enough it might even be Atlanta.
• The Falcons were shaky early, but the coaching staff and players alike did not let this one get out of hand as it so often has. The team adjusted to Lock’s aimless scrambling and the screens and began to lean more heavily on the run, which translated into a 34-0 run after the Giants scored their first touchdown. It seems evident that this is the kind of performance the Falcons were capable of but rarely managed earlier this year; a kudos for the win is in order even if the opponent was barely alive.

The Ugly

• The Giants preyed on the Falcons early with an endless procession of screens, all of which picked up at least a solid chunk of yardage as Atlanta struggled to adjust. That helped turn the second Giants drive into one that brought them within range of the end zone, and ultimately their inability to stop Drew Lock from running around aimlessly then led to a score.
• Kyle Pitts has been under withering criticism for a long time now, and with each miscue that criticism grows both more loud and more fair. In this one, Penix hit him on third and short for a first down and an opportunity for Pitts to bulldoze his way into the end zone, but he bobbled the catch into the air and it was picked off, ending a chance for Atlanta to extend their 17-7 lead. Pitts’ lack of concentration and frequent mistakes are increasingly difficult to defend, and all his talent just isn’t translating into results.
• The early drops hinted that the Falcons might have some trouble adjusting to the spin and velocity of Michael Penix’s throws after the lefty took over, and it may have factored in on Pitts’ miscue, too. That’s just something that time and reps will have to erase.
• Patterson settled down, but that early miss tells you that the Falcons are still in trouble if a critical game comes down to a field goal. Younghoe Koo being shaky and injured and being replaced by Patterson immediately struggling sets off alarm bells and makes it clear the offense and defense will have to deliver.

The Wrapup

Game MVP

It’s the defense; there were individual standouts but as a team the Falcons held the Giants to one touchdown, managed only their second multi-pick six game in franchise history, and put New York in a hole they never came close to climbing out of. With better offenses in Washington and Carolina on the way, that kind of performance has to continue.

One Takeaway

The switch to Michael Penix was a needed move that paid dividends, but this team’s growth on the ground and on defense has been evident and important since the bye.

Next Week

The toughest game left on the schedule—though neither will be easy—against the Dan Quinn-coached, big-play-loving Washington Commanders. Get past them and deep-six Carolina and the Falcons are in the postseason.

Final Word

AfunSunday.